Kirsten Gillibrand on Principles & Values

Democrat

Accused of hiding facts connecting cigarettes and cancer

The pair traded their toughest blows over jobs each had held outside public office. DioGuardi accused Gillibrand of shilling for Big Tobacco, while Gillibrand expressed "serious questions" over reports that federal regulators were investigating his ties
to a business deal. DioGuardi insisted he was merely a bit player in the deal described by a Gillibrand ad as a "Madoff-style $1.7 billion Ponzi scheme."

He returned fire by highlighting defense work Gillibrand did as an attorney for tobacco giant
Philip Morris in the 1990s. "She was actually the architect of everything that company did to try to hide the fact that cigarettes cause cancer," he said.

"Your arguments are absolutely fantasy," Gillibrand scoffed. The senator characterized her tobacc
work as something she got stuck with when she was "a junior associate in a big firm."

She pointed out that DioGuardi, too, had represented Big Tobacco, as an accountant. DioGuardi objected, and she shot back: "Oh, so you didn't choose your clients?"

Interned for Republican Sen. Alfonse D'Amato

She comes from a politically connected family; her father is a prominent state lobbyist who once had close ties to Republican former Gov. George Pataki, and her grandmother was prominent in the formidable Albany Democratic machine.
Ms. Gillibrand worked as an intern for a Republican senator, Alfonse D'Amato, and clerked for a federal judge appointed by President Ronald Reagan.

Source: Michael Powell and Raymond Hernandez, New York Times
Jan 23, 2009

Voted YES on confirming of Sonia Sotomayor to Supreme Court.

Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee kicked off the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor. In her opening statement, Judge Sotomayor pledged a "fidelity to the law:"

"In the past month, many Senators have asked me about my judicial philosophy. It is simple: fidelity to the law. The task of a judge is not to make the law--it is to apply the law. And it is clear, I believe, that my record in two courts reflects my rigorous commitment to interpreting the Constitution according to its terms; interpreting statutes according to their terms and Congress's intent; and hewing faithfully to precedents established by the Supreme Court and my Circuit Court. In each case I have heard, I have applied the law to the facts at hand."

Member of the "Blue Dog" Coalition of conservative Democrats.

Gillibrand is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition:

The 32 conservative and moderate Democrats in the Blue Dog Coalition hail from every region of the country, although the group acknowledges some southern ancestry which accounts for the group’s nickname. Taken from the South’s longtime description of a party loyalist as one who would vote for a yellow dog if it were on the ballot as a Democrat, the “Blue Dog” moniker was taken by members of The Coalition because their moderate-to-conservative-views had been “choked blue” by their party in the years leading up to the 1994 election.

The Coalition was formed in the 104th Congress as a common sense, bridge-building voice. Since then, the Blue Dogs have successfully injected a moderate viewpoint into the Democratic Caucus. The continuing political success of “Blue Pups” in the 1998 and 2000 elections points to the public’s approval of the centrist, fiscally responsible message represented by The Coalition.

The Coalition has been particularly active on fiscal issues,
relentlessly pursuing a balanced budget and then protecting that achievement from politically popular “raids” on the budget.

The Coalition’s proposals on welfare reforms served as middle-ground markers which laid the foundation for the bipartisanship necessary to bring about fundamental reforms, and helped set into law policies reflecting the “common sense, conservative compassion” so often attached to the group’s efforts.

In the 107th Congress, the Coalition intends to continue to make a difference in Congress by forging middle-ground, bipartisan answers to the current challenges facing the Country. A top priority will be to finish the job of truly balancing the budget without counting the Social Security trust funds. Other early efforts will include campaign finance reform, strengthening Social Security, and health care reform. The group also expects to be involved in education, regulatory reform, taxes, defense and veterans affairs.